The Rage
by bonkersfm
Summary: "What have you done with Mulder?" The desperation in her voice betrayed her body language, as she stood, stoic and rigid. "He's out there," Briggly nodded sideways. "But he won't be Mulder anymore."
1. Chapter 1

Machiavelli (1515) wrote that to motivate citizens to withstand a long siege one should encourage "fear of the cruelty of the enemy."

"_What have you done with Mulder?" The desperation in her voice betrayed her body language, as she stood, stoic and rigid. _

"_He's out there," Briggly nodded sideways. "But he won't be Mulder anymore."_

**DAY ONE**

"You said the Bahamas Scully." As the words came out, he inwardly berated himself for his whiney tone, akin to a child that didn't get the candy.Mulder removed his shades and rubbed fiercely at the bridge of his nose. If he closed his eyes real tight, then maybe when he opened them again the sight before him would have disappeared. To his disappointment, the devastation of a tiny island remained. 'Apaleento' had been brought to its knees by the latest hurricane that had swept in, and swept out, taking the lives of a significant number of inhabitants with it. Scully dropped her rucksack, putting a hand to her face, attempting to take in the severity of the situation without the suns glare impairing her vision.

"It is the Bahamas Mulder, more or less anyway."

Scully had been correct. As they had moved from the outskirts of the island into the centre the feel of the island had become increasingly commercial. The helicopter flight still made his stomach lurch. This had been the necessary evil, due to the high cliffs, which made the island inaccessible save for the tiny dock declared out of bounds since the disaster hit. He had more than once made an analogy to the Château d'If, Horse and Cart replaced by a run down open top jeep.

"Come on." She called to him as she climbed into the tinny jeep. "I told Dr Swanson we'd meet him before noon." With that he picked up his holdall and jogged up behind her, the notion of this trip being anything but hardwork fading away.

After an hours travel they had managed to outrun the nativety and arrive in a town that had surely thrived before the hurricane. The truck came to a halt outside the sturdy grey hospital building. Most of the building had remained unscathed, save a superficial crack that ran across the left corner of the front wall.

"Dr Scully," they hardly had chance to climb from the truck when a friendly voice called out. It belonged to a white male, older than Mulder by a few years. He extended a hand to Scully, "I'm Dr Swanson and im grateful for your help out here. The hospital were gracious in sending you."

Scully took his hand. "Its just you out here?"

"And you." He laughed nervously, coughing the remark away when neither Mulder nor Scully reacted to it. "Your Collegues should arrive in a few days; I just wanted a bit of extra time with you, being the most senior member of the relief team. I'm also leaving tomorrow as I have a family emergency at home. I am hoping you will be able to take charge at this time Theres so much to do here." Scully hardly had time to voice any concerns as Dr Swanson started back toward the hospital entrance.

"Dr Swanson," She called, but he didn't turn back.

"It's ok." Mulder caught her arm. "You go, I'll take our things back to where ever we're staying and unpack. I'll collect you later, I assume we have some kind of transport?" He turned to face the driver of the truck, who rumaged for a second, as if reminded of a task he had mean't to do before. He tossed Mulder a set of keys.

"Over there," He pointed to a battered four wheel drive. "You use that."

"You need that?," Mulder pulled at her rucksack.

"Yeah, medical bag in there, I should be back for six."

He nodded and started to unload their cases from the truck, his heart a little heavy knowing that she would be out doing a normal working day for the whole week. For an instant he had feared boredom, before reminding himself that boredom had never figured for very long in their lives.

Relief flooded Dana Scully as they pulled up outside the hotel. Although Mulder had reassured her that it was fine, she couldn't help but think they might be spending the night sleeping amongst the rubble of a former hotel. It was another buidling that had been fortunate enough to hide from the hurricane. It stood four storeys high, a few little balconys remaining outside smashed windows.

Inside was even better. A huge bedroom with windows intact, ajoined to it were a decent sized kitchen and bathroom. Mulder flopped down on the bed, patting the space next to him. "Lie down, everythings done."

"Everything?" She questioned.

"I unpacked my things, I tried to write a little, I scavenged food for later from downstairs, I unpacked your things…" he nodded over to the wardrobe in the corner.

" and I picked out what you should wear to bed tonight." He nodded towards the pillow on her side of the bed.

"Mulder I'm afraid to look." She lifted the pillow. "Theres nothing there." A look of confusion, maybe even suspicion, crossed her face.

"Exactly." He smiled at her. She relented, getting onto the bed and lying down facing him. She appreciated his sense of humour, understanding its deep undercurrents. She couldn't ever imagine them turning into one of THOSE couples. The couples that remained friends but had grown out of love, and out of lust, with one another. She had never had that problem with Mulder, emotionally or physically. It wasn't just about sex, it was about not taking each other for granted and about one making the other feel valued, loved. He loved her, she knew that. It was a fierce love, that he punctuated often with his gentle sexual innuendo that reaffirmed how much he still loved her, wanted her after all these years. His voice woke her from her thoughts.

"What was it like in there?"

"Not like I thought," She answered, "Lots of injured, some serious. A few dead but they've been stored downstairs in a temporary morgue. They're not cut out to deal with this Mulder, it's a small hospital that only operates to serve the holiday makers. The most they're used to is food poisoning and motion sickness." She through her arm across him, lifting herself up onto his chest. "They want me there for most of the day until the rest of the crew arrives. At the moment they're operating on skeletal staff. Will you be bored?"

"Bored? Not me. I can work on Carter's next idea. He wants a rough outline by the end of next week. Anyway they have TV. I can't understand a word of it, I'll just tune in to the more visual programmes."

He waggled his eyebrows at her, hoping to get a smile. She hadn't seemed overly impressed with the request to come out there. She told him how Father Abara had said it was a good will gesture, although she was sure he just wanted her out of his hair.

"What are the other staff like?" He asked her, trying to break the intense concentration she had seemed to be under since he first picked her up.

"They're alright, there are a handful of doctors, more nurses and some relief from another US hospital. I feel bad for you being cooped up in here though."

"I wasn't cooped up Scully, I went out. After dinner I'll show you round."

They had walked for an hour and hardly seen a soul. Mulder put it down to people either trying to rebuild their livelihoods or fleeing the island after the hurricane. He couldn't see how that was possible though – the dock that would have taken them had been destroyed in the chaos. They walked through the suburban streets, past houses, churches and stores, most of which had suffered in some way from the recent plight. As he walked , he could feel her tiring a little. "Do you want to get a cab back?" He asked her, looking at her face to gauage whether her response would be an honest one or not.

"No its ok Mulder, to be honest I doubt you'd find one, its pretty quiet out."

"Maybe everyones at the hospital?" He smiled at her, getting the response he wanted as she smiled back at him. "You're quiet tonight, whats on your mind?" He asked, hoping she would open up a little.

" I'm fine Mulder," she looked up to him knowing the facial expression he would make when he heard those words. "Really," she tried to justify herself, "I just had a strange day and I guess I'm trying to process everything."

"Strange how?" He pushed further.

" A woman died today, from injuries incurred from the hurricane. Her internal organs were damaged by debris and we lost her. Its so busy there right now that I got one of the staff to help me take her down into their tiny morgue. When I got there, there were these two bodies. At first I thought they were more from the wreckage, until I got closer."

"What was the matter?" He asked, interested because it wasn't often his ex-partner found anything shocking on a dead body anymore. Not shocking enough to keep her this subdued anyway.

"These bodies didn't come from any wreckage Mulder, they look victims of some kind of plague. The skin looked greyed as if the bodies had been dead months and their skin was blistered beyond belief."

"You'd say that was cause of death?"

"That's the thing Mulder, they looked as if they'd been blugeoned to death. I couldn't get a better look because they'd already been sealed in the clear plastic body bags."

"I thought body bags were black?"

"They are usually. The CDC uses the clear plastic sometimes. That's what had got me thinking."

"Getting yearnings to return to pathology Agent Scully?"

She laughed then. Sometimes he still called her that, usually when he asked her an oppinion about a profile he'd been asked to work on. Often she'd comment that he didn't need her help, but the truth was it excited him to hear her talking about a case. Talking like she was now about those bodies. Those years he'd spent working for the VCU he would lose himself in a case. Some people thought it was the only way to truly put yourself in the shoes of a killer. Whilst he still agreed with this to an extent, it made all the difference to him to have someone to come home to; to have a warm body to wrap himself around at night. In truth, the world could be a cold and horrible place, full of the darkness that had enveloped him for years and years. He wasn't misled though, he knew the world hadn't changed. But everything had changed for them at least, when they had taken the final step toward a physically loving relationship, after denying themselves of such intimacy for over six years. He looked at her now, this woman whom he had fallen in love with all those years ago. Even after all this time, he'd still feel that same surge of feelings; that rush of falling in love again. she'd catch him staring at her for no other reason than because there was a part of him that couldn't get over the fact that she loved him back. He was staring at her now.

"Mulder? You ok?"

He didn't have time to answer, the shrieking noise coming from behind them ripped him from his day dream. They both spun, a young woman came running into view, the sound of her precarious stilletto's breaking the silence of the night. It wasn't until she arrived up close that Scully noticed the lacerations around her neck. Scully moved to examine her closer. "Get the hell away from me." She batted Scully's hand away, clucthing at her purse with her other hand, she carefully looked Mulder up and down.

"I'm sorry," Scully backed up a little. " I'm a Doctor, you look hurt. Who did this to you?"

"You wanna do me a favour?" She pulled away, pulling the tiny jacket she wore so that it covered more of her body. "Go call the police on that creep back there. Asshole tried to mug me." With that she shoved herself between them, the clatter of her feet fading away in the distance.

"Maybe we should check it out." Mulder said, starting back down the street.

"Mulder, you don't have your gun," she caught hold of him, "please lets just call the police. He could have a knife…anything." He relented then. He could see the hotel from where they now stood and it made sense to call the authorities instead of blasting straight in.

" Yeah, you're right Scully. I guess I still think I'm some kind of G-man huh?" His smile seemed a little sad for her liking. She knew he wasn't the sort of man to get his kicks from carrying a gun. She knew he didn't need it as part of his identity. It was something deeper then that, something she might need to extract a little at a time. She grabbed his arm with both her hands, hoping to pull him out of the moment.

" C'mon G-man," she said as they walked up the steps leading to the hotel door, "you can take me to bed, prove your worth."


	2. Chapter 2

DAY TWO

Scully wiped the sweat from her forehead and leaned against the metal gurney. This was the second patient they'd lost in the last half an hour. Two seemingly unrelated deaths, both caused by massive blood loss due to multiple injuries. It had been non-stop that morning. They had been in undated with various injuries, some of which didn't seem consistent with the breaks and bruising caused by the hurricane. There were a dozen people with tearing to the skin and puncture wounds to the chest, face and arms. All seemed to be the victim of an unprovoked attack by another person. There were several more suffering from an outbreak of blisters on the face and neck. She made her way out of the theatre and into the waiting room, to be greeted by double the amount of patients that had been there an hour ago. She glanced around, her eyes darting from one person to the next to see who seemed to need help the fastest. Her eyes settled on a young boy of about ten. His hand had been wrapped in some sort of gauze, held together by a girl of about fifteen. She seemed to be his opposite. He looked small, painfully shy, whilst she seemed to relish standing out. She wore a tiny skirt, tank top and a thick layer of make-up that probably masked a naturally pretty face. Scully walked over to them, motioning for him to turn his hand over. He did so, unveiling a nasty burn that covered the palm. The skin had already started to blister and pucker, infection ready and waiting to set in. Scully removed the towel, concerned that it may already have caused the wound to become dirty.

"What's your name?" She asked. The boy went to open his mouth, only to be talked over by the girl.

"He put his hand on the stove." She rushed out, before pausing and relaying the question back in her head. "Kevin, his name is Kevin." Scully looked at her for a minute, then switched her attention back to the boy.

"Okay Kevin come with me and we'll try to clean this up for you. Are you his sister?"

The girl nodded, following them into the small treatment room down the hall.

"I need to phone your parents. What's your name?"

"Amy. Please don't call them. If they know this happened my dad will kill me." She seemed genuinely worried, although Scully was pretty sure the girl wasn't stupid. She must have known that a burn this bad couldn't be covered up.

A face appeared at the door. "Dr Scully please come quick I don't know what to do!" The face belonged to Dr Hagull. Dark skinned, slightly chubby and softly spoken, he had arrived a day before she had, flown in from a specialist unit in Dallas. He was still a med school student, sent as part of a training project. She followed him quickly, alarmed at the urgency in his voice. As they rounded the corner the chaos hit her full force. Two Doctors were wrestling with a scantily clad woman, a third doctor clutching at his throat as blood pumped out at an alarming rate. The patients had mostly disappeared, save three who were now dead, sprawled over the seats and on the floor. Scully went to go forward towards her injured colleague, when she caught sight of a body stirring at her feet. A man in his fifties groaned loudly, his face a mass of blisters and sores. He managed to roll himself over onto his back and before Scully could utter a word, he had jumped to his feet. He staggered towards her, his movement's jerky and his mouth leaking blood. He lunged forward, swiping at her face. Scully backed up, shoving Dr Hagull behind her. Before he had time to finish voicing his protests she was pushing him along the corridor back into the treatment room where Amy and Kevin waited, oblivious to the chaos outside.

Mulder closed the lid to his laptop. He felt exhausted by the heat. He had made the effort to get up when Scully did so that he could get everything out of the way for when she came home. Now he had exerted himself unnecessarily and had several hours to kill before she returned. He stretched his long frame out along the bed and grabbed the remote, turning the television on. He flicked through channel after channel, not really understanding what was said. In a second the box went blank. Getting up, he switched it on and off, and on again. Nothing. Shit, the fact that his laptop had ceased charging meant a power cut. Jumping off the bed he descended the stairs into the main reception. A dead silence greeted him. He called out but still no one came. Then something caught his eye. He looked out into the street to see two men wrestling in the street. He ran toward the door, but the next sight to greet his eyes stopped him dead in his tracks. Five, six, seven more people launched themselves onto the men, ripping at the older mans clothes, hair and skin. Eight, nine, ten now clambering to get their share. Mulder watched in horror as they tore flesh to pieces. He half expected them to begin eating the flesh, turning the scene into something from a George Romero film. They didn't do this. They did however, quickly lose interest once the remains were scattered onto the road. Mulder ran back up the stairs into the hotel room. He grabbed his cell phone and car keys, hoping to god he could get to the truck without running into anymore of these creatures.

It was the most horrific sight that Kevin had experienced in his short life. The four of them stood behind the door; watching, almost waiting for the figure behind it to knock it down. She slapped herself against the window, blood pouring from her scalp and eyes. Dr Scully had moved a table in front of the fickle plastic door, holding it in place for now. Were they waiting for her to come through? Waiting for death? He didn't want to wait any longer.

Mulder drove at a furious speed, through the desolate streets where no soul roamed. He had expected to see more of the same behaviour that had occurred outside the hotel, but so far he was given hope that it was an isolated incident. He picked up his cell and dialled Scully's number. It rang out only once before she answered.

"Scully? Scully it's me. Are you still at the hospital."

"Oh Mulder, " she sighed with relief, "I'm at the hospital but there's a situation here."

"Let me guess, violent outbreak like 'Day of the dead' without the brain eating?"

" What? It's happening out there too?" He heard the fear seeping into her voice. Maybe not fear, more annoyance than fear. It took a lot to get the F word from Scully.

" I'm coming toward the hospital now, where can I meet you?"

"We're holed up in a treatment room, but there's a window round the back of the hospital. I'll open it and you can pull up outside."

"No! Don't open it Scully the place is crawling with these things."

"Things? Mulder, they're just people. Granted dangerous people but only people just the same."

"Scully, please don't argue with me about this. Mark the window in some way and stay on the line. We don't want any unnecessary attention so I'll tell you when I'm pulling up and if it's safe."

Scully got to work on the window, unfastening it until it was locked only by a side handle. It was a decent size, easy for them to climb through. She rummaged through drawers and cupboards trying to find something to mark the window. She found nothing of any use, it had to be something that would make a visible and clear indication that they were inside. Eventually she turned to Amy. "Do you have a lip stick?" She sensed the girl was about to question her motives, and then quickly produced a dark red colour from her handbag. Scully pushed it hard into the glass, marking a giant 'X' across the whole window. She picked the cell phone up again.

"Ok Mulder, I've marked the window, are you close? I don't think we have much time." She looked over to the door and how there were now several figures banging and thrashing against it.

"Ok Scully I'm here. I've opened the sun roof, when I pull up outside the window get on top of the car and slid in."

She was about to tell him that she was not alone, when the truck appeared outside. She opened the window wide, pushing the two kids out first.

"Where will we go?" Hugall asked her, hesitating.

"I don't know." An almighty crash drowned out her words as the door finally gave way. "But anywhere's better than here – come on!"

They had been driving for an hour, Scully tuning the radio back and forth trying to find a station that could clarify the situation. Every so often they would pass groups of blood spattered individuals, wandering around on the road. In one instance Mulder had tried to stop for a young woman that had run out in front of the car, slamming on the hood for them to let her in. Convinced that she was not among the violent masses, he had pulled the car to a stop. However, they had watched in horror as two strangers had sprinted with amazing speed up behind her, whacking her head on the hood and rendering her dazed. Mulder had gone to open the door, before Scully reached across and grabbed his sleeve. What good was he dead? She had stated. As they had pulled the car into reverse, they had watched, horrified as the two men tore her body in two. In the back seat, Amy and Kevin sat huddled together silently. Hagull was the first to speak up. "Where exactly are you taking us? Eventually we're going to run out of fuel and then what?" Scully waited for Mulder to respond. She didn't have a good answer, she was hoping that he did.

"I'm going to drive us to the only way out of here. The dock behind the prison."

"What about my Mom? My Dad?" Amy sobbed, pulling Kevin closer. "Where will they be?"

Mulder passed the cell phone to the back seat. "Call them on this," his voice became softer, "tell them where we're going and they can meet us there."

She nodded, taking the cell and dialling a few different numbers before leaving a message during the final phone call. Scully turned in her seat,

"Try not to worry, they would want you to be safe." Amy simply stared out of the window. Maybe she had read Scully's mind, that their parents were dead.

The prison looked nearly as foreboding as Mulder had imagined it to be. A large stone grey building that lay behind a small barricade of scaffold and wire. A Soldier sat at the top, rising to his feet as the car ground to a halt. Warily he jumped down, running to the driver's side, gun hoisted. Mulder wound down the window.

"What's your purpose of business sir?" The young soldier parroted as if it had taken him years to learn it.

"We need to leave the island. Or at least find some kind of haven until the authorities get here." Mulder went to explain on, but found he had no need. The young soldier got out a small cell phone and rang what sounded like a senior officer. No one in the car could here the incoming call, all they could hear was the youngster replying.

"Two men, two women, one boy." After a moment, he put the cell phone away and pointed to a small side entrance. As they neared it, the metal gate lifted upwards and they entered.

The main hall seemed to be the antithesis of what a prison should be. Good candle lighting, warm fire and beautiful wooden furniture surrounded them now as they sat around the huge banquet table. The five of them sat together, surrounded by six militants, possibly ordinary foot soldiers. They had been introduced to the senior officer Captain Briggly and his deputy Private Holstein briefly before being herded into the hall. Briggly was even taller than Mulder, with muscled arms, a rough face and very short blonde hair. His deputy seemed to be his opposite. Short for a man, his was hair thick, black and tousled. Mulder had expected to be privy to a full and frank explanation of why such a tiny island had been but under military supervision. Supervision seemed an understatement. They had asked to have access to the docks and it had been denied, a topic of which there had been no negotiation. "We need to wait for help to be sent. Under no circumstances can I permit civilians to venture out there without the proper protection or transport." The mood among the troops had seemed light and optimistic and there had been a definite air of boy's club camaraderie which had been subdued quite a bit by the arrival of the two women that day.

" So what's the plan?" Scully had asked bluntly, receiving a few disapproving looks, along with a few other looks that Mulder didn't feel totally comfortable with. The Captain studied her for a moment.

"We have sent a signal for help. Unfortunately all power has been cut and our cell phones do not work in these barracks. To get a signal you would have to travel back towards the centre, which is too much of a risk at present. We have the correct methods to defend ourselves and so we wait until help arrives. We estimate that it could be at least a week away." The main doors swung open and three figures walked wearily into view. All wore casual clothes unlike the soldiers and as they sat down the first two introduced themselves. The third man needed no introduction.

"Dr Swanson?" Scully stared wide-eyed, not quite believing her eyes. "Dr Swanson I thought you left the island last night?"

He closed his eyes, about to speak when Briggly interrupted him.

"Do you two know each other?"

Swanson looked haggered, like he had aged ten years in the last twenty four hours. "She is a medical Doctor at the hospital. Dr Hagull is a junior there." He answered.

The other two men sat up a little straighter. Ben Evans seemed young, with short, with dark cropped hair and a beard, while Louis Tranter was older, taller and as well as being probably the better looking out of the two, he seemed also the more confident.

"A medical doctor?" Tranter asked, looking at her.

"This is excellent," Evans chimed in excitedly, "She could help us so much with our research….Dr Scully would you be willing to….."

Holstein banged his fist onto the table, making everyone jump to some degree

" Don't assume that you have the power to dictate or assign power here." He snapped. " As far as I was aware your department are making adequate progress!"

"Adequate progress?" Evans countered back at him. "We're no further along then we were a week ago! We're out of our depth and the more pairs of hands in that lab the better!"

Briggly stood now, maintaining the calm and rational persona he had portrayed since they had arrived. "I think everybody is tired and frustrated at the moment. Dr Scully we would be grateful if you were to give us your medical opinion on our situation here, in the morning obviously."

Scully nodded as the room descended into uncomfortable silence. Mulder's mind had been whirring the since the moment they had arrived. This was supposed to be the safest place they had been in the last twenty-four hours. If that was true then why did he feel they were at their most vulnerable?

Private Wenson looked the part. Young, strong and silent he was the epitome of what a soldier should be. Private Andrews followed him. Andrews seemed a little older and much more relaxed. He wore his uniform as if he had thrown it on, the charmed smile on his face most of the time told Mulder that he was probably a hit with the ladies back home. They lead the five visitors up the stairs and into what seemed like a long corridor. It wasn't until they entered the corridor that it became apparent that they had entered the main prison.

"It don't look like much," Wenson explained, "but the beds are comfy and its clean enough." It was true; the beds had been changed from the typical hard bunks into comfy beds with the use of cut up foam mattresses and duvets.

"They started to change this place into some kind of hotel. They only got as far as downstairs when they sold out. It was either move everything into here, or all sleep in one room. Too many soldiers here and they all want their privacy – if you know what I mean?" Mulder nodded, but he could tell that Andrews' cocky attitude wasn't lost on Scully. Mulder could see her mind working, measuring the man up ready to put him in his place when necessary. They arrived at the end of the block. To Mulder's dismay there were only two cells left. "Don't worry," Wenson pre-empted Mulder's next question. There are three more across the other side; we figure it must have been some kind of isolation wing.

"Anyway sort it out among yourselves, then come back downstairs. I think Briggly wants to talk to you about security around here." Wenson left, Andrews' following behind him.

Amy spoke up for the first time since they had arrived. " We want to stay together, we aren't splitting up. I need to look after Kevin." Mulder nodded, he understood the responsibility she felt now that she had accepted that her parents were probably dead. He hoped it was a concept lost on Kevin, at least for now.

"Dr Scully?" Kevin released his grip on his sister's coat. "Please stay with us. I'm frightened."

Scully opened her mouth to speak, unsure about how to answer. Of course there was only one answer when she looked into the little boy's eyes. "Of course I will Kevin, I promised I would look after you." She quickly looked at Mulder. They hadn't had a minute alone since they had arrived and she knew there were a million things to discuss. " Amy why don't you go take Kevin to the other hall. Make sure its clean, we don't want dirt getting into that burn." She then looked at Hagull, hoping he would take his cue to leave.

"I'll go get the supplies from the car, I brought my medical bag and grabbed a few bits and pieces. You never know when we might need them." With that he disappeared. Mulder wasted no time in pulling Scully into the first cell. He pulled her close, whispering in her ear.

"I don't like this Scully, there's something going on here and the less I know the less I like it."

"I know," she said softly. " There are so many questions they need to answer Mulder. Including why the docks are suddenly out of bounds, and why on earth are the military here in the first place?"

"I think you might know more tomorrow when you go with Evans and Tranter to the lab. You gonna be okay?"

"It makes sense Mulder, I'm going to try and get Swanson on his own at some point; get him to tell me what's going on. If I'm over there I'm out of the way. There has to be a weak link among the men too. Maybe Wenson? I don't think waiting this situation out is an option. Anyway," She used her hand to guide his gaze into her eyes, "we're safer in here then out there. I'll be fine."

He hoped she was right.

Once both children were sleeping, she and Mulder lay quietly on Scully's bed, she on her back staring up at the ceiling, Mulder on his side wrapped around her. Soon the peace had been interrupted by the sound of many pairs of boots stamping their way up the stairs. "Maybe I should just stay with you." He said, tightening his grip around her waist.

"No Mulder." She pulled herself into a sitting position. "I don't think it's a good idea that they know who we are, or that we suspect anything. Not until we know what their real objective is. You can find out. You can infiltrate them. Holstein and Briggly already see me as a threat. Spend some time with the others. You can listen to what they say; they might even confide in you a little."


	3. Chapter 3

DAY 3

Scully and Hagull followed Evans into the huge lab that was situated at the very top of the prison. Huge skylights lined the ceiling. As far as she could gather they were the only sources of light. Once it got dark outside, it got dark everywhere in this place. Makeshift bunks lay across one wall. "You sleep down here?" She questioned.

"And eat, whenever we can. I don't like Briggly and his men. They look down on us, like our work means nothing."

"What is your work?" Scully scanned the room; still clueless as to why they would have been situated here before the outbreak.

"The government funded a trip for Tranter and I to use this place as a base because it was next to the sea. For three years we applied for a grant. We're marine biologists. That's what we do… We're out of our depth here."

"So when did the military arrive?"

"A week ago. Dr Swanson arrived yesterday. They told us that the island was to be quarantined, and that they needed us to stay to help Swanson for the next two or three weeks. At first it seemed exciting, but in truth we're just the skivvies and I don't think Swanson has a good handle on the situation.

"You mean the same situation as what we witnessed in the streets?"

He nodded, beckoning them both to follow him to a huge refrigeration unit without power.. As he pulled open the metal drawer, they were greeted by the true horror that they had witnessed the day before in the hospital. Three frozen cadavers lay in the drawer, all with the same blistering skin and rotten flesh.

Eyes flickered.

Fingers twitched.

"They're still alive?" Hagull jumped backward.

"Yes," Tranter walked around the drawer. "They've been given muscle relaxant, and they're sealed up so they can't get out even if the relaxant fails, which it won't. We're hoping to find some way of killing them. There are other subjects stored inside another container. So far the only way of incapacitating them is to remove all limbs. We reported this to Briggly, but it isn't really an effective defence mechanism. Especially since they move at such a rate and in such large packs that beheading would take too long and be too risky."

"Dr Scully," Evans came forward, "please work with us. These bodies are in early stages of the disease. The other cadavers we have started to develop other symptoms over the course of two or three days. We need to find out what this is and how to treat it"

"And how it's spread" Scully added. "I trust you take all necessary precautions?"

They both nodded. "Where is Dr Swanson now?" She asked.

"He spends a lot of time with Briggly. He's usually here by now, ready to tell us what to do, you know, what tests to run. Please say you'll help us. We both want to get out of here alive."

Mulder had gotten up the moment he was awake. He had fallen asleep with his clothes on, being unable to shake the uncomfortable feeling he had been left with as Scully had disappeared into her cell. They had talked at length with Briggly about the measures they should take should there be a breach in security. They had not been issued with any form of defence though. Mulder had been hoping that they would at least arm the adults with some form of weapon.

Now he was standing in Scully's cell, disappointed that he had missed her. She must have gone straight to the lab that morning. He felt a stinging parallel to when they had first arrived on the island. Once he and Scully had settled into the routine of domesticity he had soon forgotten how independent she could be. It had been relatively easy for him to work from home most of the time whether it be writing or profiling. Occasionally he would go back to DC to meet with Skinner over a profile, but overall his life had reached a new level of calm. He never had to worry about Scully either. As time had passed the concern that she was no longer armed with a weapon was counter balanced by the fact that their new life had become far less dangerous. However the last couple of days had bought back old anxieties. Only now he was in a less fortunate position. He had had to call the police to deal with the attacker on that first night and yesterday he had been forced to leave two innocent people to die because there wasn't a thing he could do to save them. If he let Scully down in that way he could never forgive himself. He decided he would make his way downstairs, having offered to help the men with the security jobs they did during the day. Maybe this way he could get Wenson onside, and find out what was going on.

Mulder didn't see Scully again till Dinner. She arrived with Swanson, Evans and Tranter about five minutes after everyone else had sat down to a poor attempt at macaroni cheese. Scully looked totally exhausted. Briggly questioned Swanson about the day's progress and was answered with excuses that they had run out of basic equipment.

" That's not a problem," Briggly quickly replied. "Tomorrow we are driving back into the main town to retrieve supplies."

"If we take one of your lot with us we can make sure we get the correct equipment. Dr Scully can come if she wants to." Holstein chimed in, turning to Scully now, " you could learn something useful out there, instead of being stuck in the lab."

At that point Mulder wanted to jump out of the chair and shout NO! No he didn't want Scully out there in the open. He didn't want her surrounded by those monsters with only a few of these boys to protect her. God, if only she knew what he was thinking, she'd kill him. She would always maintain that she was fine. He had images in his brain of her being dragged from the military truck by hoards of monsters and still shouting, 'I'm fine Mulder, I'm fine!'

After dinner everyone dispersed. Tranter and Evans took themselves off to their quarters in the lab, Swanson, Briggly and Holstein disappeared upstairs and the rest of the troops went the large sitting room which had been converted into some kind of games room. Andrews and two other's sat around playing cards, asking Mulder if he wanted in. The two children sat in the corner, Amy flicking through magazines whilst Kevin played with the figurines on the fireplace. He declined, instead choosing to follow Scully as she made her way upstairs. She had kept looking at him over dinner, catching his eye many times. Her signals were vague enough as to give nothing away to the strangers, but Mulder knew more. He knew she needed to talk to him urgently.

He had let her go on ahead, only catching her up as she entered her cell. Flinging his arms around her waist, he spun her around so that her body was crushed to his. He pushed his lips against her, and felt a brief flutter if disappointment as she principally resisted, feeling stiff and awkward in his arms. Relief over whelmed him as, after a second, she relaxed, melting into him and opening her mouth to his kiss. It was she that pulled away first, looking at the floor and showing an embarrassed smile. "Why did you do that?" She asked, still smiling.

"Why? Do I need a reason why?" He moved his hands from her waist to her forearms. Planting another kiss on her forehead. "I missed you today and you looked sad at dinner. Those are my reasons. Happy?"

She looked into his eyes. He always knew how to make her smile and she knew she could have responded better to his affections. They sat down on her bed and began to talk. She went first.

"There are three or four corpses in the lab. They all look exactly like what we saw out in the streets. They're still alive too. The only way they can find to kill them is through taking them apart limb from limb, although apparently Briggly has told them that they need a better method. I agree it isn't the quickest way of defending yourself in combat."

"You think Briggly's running the show down there too?"

"I think so. Swanson meets with him regularly I know that much. I ran some tests, and looked at the remains of the older bodies. It seems that the disease is progressive. I noticed clouding of the eyes, which indicates retinal failure. I really want to know how it's passed on Mulder. When they go tomorrow they need to bring back some kind of animal. A dog, cat, rabbit anything. We can use them to find out whether it is passed on through blood or saliva and how long the gestation period is."

Mulder winced as she mentioned the idea of using animals in the lab. "I know what you're thinking Mulder," she quickly continued, "but we need to know how this is passed on. I'm worried that we're all at risk." An uncomfortable silence fell over them. She needed to push it out, the unwelcome guest it was. " What did you find out today?"

Mulder leaned back against the wall. "I spent the morning helping to set traps outside. They have an elaborate alarm system and a handful of explosive mines set out just in front of the prison. We we're lucky we didn't hit one on the way in. I talked to some of the troops, including Wenson. He says they were drafted in last week as a military exercise, securing a safe base ready to play soldiers as a training exercise. He can't get over what a co-incidence it is that the outbreak began while they were here."

"Must be the same coincidence that brought two marine biologists here at just the right time." Scully added.

Mulder raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? So we agree its some kind of exercise?"

"Maybe. We need to find out more about Briggly. I can work on Swanson just fine. I want to know why they're not letting us go though Mulder."

"Yeah, I don't by this total isolation crap either. There must be some contact with the outside world."

"Well I can check it out tomorrow when I go with them for the supplies."

"You're not going are you?" He asked, sounding genuinely shocked.

"You're surprised I want to go?" Her brow furrowed.

"You're surprised I DON'T want you to go?" His voice going up at least two octaves until lit had become nearly a squeak.

" Holstein said…"

"Holstein's pushing you and seeing how far he can go before you snap. Come on Scully you can smell the testosterone around here."

"I smell it on you Mulder."

"Is that what you think?" Now he felt angry. "That I'm just trying to play the macho man? Scully I don't like what's going on here. There's a definite attitude towards the scientists. I've sat and listened to it all day, how they talk about Tranter and Evans," he hesitated, "and you."

She leaned in then, narrowing her eyes. Part of her didn't really want to accept what he was saying, he could tell.

"Mulder don't worry about me, I grew up on a Navy base, and most of the testosterone crap is just that. Crap. They compete amongst each other to see who can sound the most arrogant. It's all talk." She looked away.

"This is different Scully. They hate the scientists and they want to hate you. They don't want a woman coming in telling them what they've been doing wrong for the past week and questioning their methods."

"Are you asking me to keep my mouth shut?"

"No," He hesitated, "I'm just giving you a heads up. This isn't your everyday military base. This place was filled with tension before we got here and everybody is wound up. There are people in here, especially Holstein, who are just waiting for an excuse to lash out."

Scully sighed, understanding how he felt and why he was talking to her like this. "Ok. I'll go tomorrow," She spoke quickly as Mulder tried to object, "but I'll be careful. I'll let them do the talking and I'll do as I'm told."

Mulder laughed then. " That's a heap of new stuff for you Scully, are you sure you can handle it?" She pushed at him gently as his arms went around her again, pulling her down into a lying position on the bed.

"Don't worry about me Mulder, in all our time together, if you were there I never felt truly scared." She propped herself up now, kissing him softly. He smiled, trying to hide the feeling that this cocoon of safety was soon to be shattered.


	4. Chapter 4

Day Four

It was with relief that Swanson would not allow Scully to go raiding with the troops the next day. Scully had been sat in the truck, waiting for Holstein to arrive and drive them into the town. Next thing, Briggly was giving orders that 'Dr Scully' would return to the lab immediately as Tranter and Evans had failed to show up that morning. Mulder tried to feign disappointment. He tried even harder to suppress anxiety when the called him and Hagull into the truck to replace her. Now they were travelling along empty streets, tracking the path that Mulder had driven himself only days before. As they neared the centre of town, they began to see groups of people, if you could call them people. At first groups of two or three, then as they neared the hospital the groups had increased. As they ran at the truck, Holstein opened fire. The spray of bullets only knocked them back temporarily. Holstein signalled to the driver to go faster, opening fire once more to keep a new wave of the diseased at bay. As they pulled up along side the hospital, Hagull, Mulder and Holstein disembarked. They had been armed for the journey, although Mulder was sure they would be disarmed when they arrived back at the base. They entered through the open window that Scully had marked out; Andrews staying outside while Hagull and Mulder searched for the supplies that Swanson had listed.

Movement.

A figure drifted past the glass window. Mulder held his breath as it passed, seemingly oblivious to their presence. As Mulder approached the window he could see down a narrow hallway. A hallway filled with the diseased. They wandered aimlessly, bumping into each other and lashing out as they did. It was then that one looked Mulder right in the eyes. Mulder froze, stepping back toward the open window. The body moved slowly on.

"OH MY GOD GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF ME!"

Both Mulder and Hagull ran toward the window, in time to see the driver being hauled out of his seat and savaged by two bodies. Holstein opened fire, yelling at the top of his voice, " Lets get outta here! Come on move!" Hagull and Mulder jumped back into the truck, just in time for Holstein to put it in gear and drive away. It was a lesson that Mulder was learning quickly – it was every man for himself now.

She couldn't contain her anger any longer.

"What do you mean Tranter has gone? Gone where?" Scully followed Swanson as he disappeared into a storage closet.

"He left, walked out. Yesterday he had a row with Briggly and said his goodbyes. Evans too. Now, I don't have time for this. There's work to be done."

He cut her off at that.

At midday Mulder arrived at the lab, knocking at the door before entering. In his hand he carried a glass case full of dead mice. "Sorry Scully its all I could find."

She walked over, taking the case off him. They would have to do, she hardly expected him to bring back a dead human body.

"It's great Mulder, thank you. Are you ok? You don't look well."

"We lost Peterson today. Those things got him." He looked down for a moment. "Where's Hagull? I thought he would be bringing you the supplies he picked up?"

She shrugged. "I haven't seen him yet. To be honest Mulder I hardly see him. Whenever he isn't in here I don't really know what he does."

"Ok, well I'm going to go and do some poaching around. Will I see you before dinner?"

" Swanson seems to have made a breakthrough. With that and the mice I can see myself being tied up here until late tonight. I'll come and see you before dinner."

He nodded, setting down the mice and heading for the door.

She was true to her word. Just before dinner she sought him out, talking to Wenson in the main sitting room. The minute he saw her, he stood. "I have something to show you." He took her upstairs into a room that stood adjacent to the corridor of cells. He led her to the end of the room and through another door. She went to speak, but he put his hands to his lips, and pointed downward, toward a ventilation shaft. A moment later Scully could hear a familiar voice. Briggly. Briggly talking on a telephone she assumed. No other voice could be heard. They listened in.

"No sir, not yet. No we need more time. Only Holstein and I. Yes sir." They could hear the receiver being replaced. A soft knock at the door came next. "Come in."

They listened carefully as Dr Swanson spoke.

"We have new information based on recent testing. It seems that the virus is transferred through blood. It could be anything as minor as a scratch if the infector has its own blood on its fingernails. I tried a saliva test on the other subject and that came back as negative. I'm hoping that more of Dr Scully's work tonight will help to get a clear picture of what we're dealing with here." They listened for a few more minutes, until Swanson left.

"Mulder how did you know about this?" Scully whispered.

"Snooping." he replied. " I listened in for about an hour today although there was nothing like just now. Briggly definitely knows what's going on."

The atmosphere at dinner seemed different to the last two nights. Holstein was regaling the troops with his story of honour, how he spent the day blasting people to pieces. No one mentioned Peterson. It was Wenson who first noticed the absence of Evans and Tranter. His question had been met with Andrews booming voice, " They ran out on us – but what do we care. I say we get out of here tomorrow. Use up the rest of our ammo."

"Get out how?" Scully asked. " I thought we had no transport?"

" We can reclaim the town –blow those mother fuckers to pieces."

" I've already told you that's impossible. We need to continue working on some sort of vaccine for this. You need to go out and find Tranter and Evans, they're the ones who did the primary testing."

"I don't need YOU telling me what I should or shouldn't do! You know jack shit about what we've been through!"

Briggly stood, instantly quietening Andrews. The rest of the dinner was spent in silence. Scully made herself scarce soon after, saying that she wanted to do more work before it got dark.

She knew she didn't have long. She wanted to find the two test subjects that Swanson spoke of. She pulled drawer after drawer in the steel storage container to no avail. He must have stored them elsewhere. She would have to wait. Wait and follow Swanson. He must do most of his work at night, as he never left her side during the day. She opened the storage cupboard in the corner of the room and waited quietly, watching as with each passing minute the light got a little dimmer.

Mulder looked at his watch. It was ten thirty and Scully still hadn't come to bed. He had been up and down to her room every twenty minutes, being careful not to disturb the children who had maintained a low profile over the last day or so. Many of the troops were still downstairs, he could tell from the number of empty cells. He lay back in his bed, staring at the ceiling, hoping clarity would come.

Swanson showed up. She watched him, quietly hoping he wouldn't approach the store cupboard where she sat. He didn't. In fact, he barely touched anything. He simply took a handful of needles, along with the muscle relaxant. The last thing he did was to go to the big freezer where they had stored the limbs of the disembowelled bodies. She watched him scoop out a hand wrapped in a clear plastic sheet. As he closed the door behind him, she followed, careful not to alert him to her presence. She followed as he walked up the stairs onto the ground floor, crossing towards the hall, but taking a sharp left up another set of stairs. One minute she could clearly make out the outline of Swanson's body, ascending the staircase, the next he had disappeared into the darkness. It was so dark now that she couldn't see her hand in front if her face. She would come back tomorrow. She would get hold of his keys and look around when everyone was at dinner.

Mulder lay still, listening to every sound, every movement made in the bunk next to him. It was Wenson. He was sure he had heard him praying at night. Quietly praying for salvation. For God to save him from all of this. The nights had gotten colder and colder over the last few days. This was the first night he had felt comfortable enough to strip down to nothing but his boxers. He had hated sleeping in his clothes, especially since he didn't have anything different to wear in the day. He lay back, telling himself he would go and find Scully in another half an hour.

Scully made her way back to her cell. The way had been well lit by candles, but the actual corridor was awfully dark. Her only way to find hers was to know it was the first one, and Mulder's the last one on the other corridor. She felt her way along the wall, catching sight of the dark outline of her bed and thanking the moonlight for giving her that tiny bit of light. She sat for a moment on the edge of the bed.

The next feeling she had was of a hand across her mouth and another around her waist, dragging her back onto the corner of the bed. The grip was iron tight and feeling a face next to her neck made her want to scream out – but shock and terror told her she couldn't. Two figures were present now, not one. As the darkness enveloped her she kicked and scratched at the second figure as he reached forward and grabbed her jeans, pulling them down, along with her underwear, to her knees. As the cold air hit her, so did the realisation of what was going to happen to her unless she did something quickly. Thrashing wildly, she bit hard into the hand of the man behind her. For a moment he let go with both hands, yelping in pain. "Fucking bitch." She knew that voice. The man in front of her was Holstein. In another second she felt a stinging across her face as he slapped her hard. The force of the slap threw her back onto the bed, falling against the whimpering body behind her. The fast movement had caused her to lose her concentration and now her eyes had to adjust to the darkness all over again. She couldn't see. But she could feel. She could feel a body pressing on her. For an instant, bile was rising up her throat and she could feel foreign naked flesh lying upon hers. Her heart pounded as if it were about to burst, her face and neck flushed with warm fear.

The watch belonging to the hand across her mouth suddenly emitted a tiny beeping noise. "Shit! C'mon man we gotta go. If Briggly knows we're not out there…."

The man behind her jumped off the bed, she saw his silhouette move towards the door. "C'mon man leave it, she gets it now."

Scully watched as Holsteins frame turned toward her again. "You'll keep." Is all he said, before they both disappeared into the darkness.

Mulder jolted to a sitting position as he felt a warm body collapsing on his chest. Of course as soon as he had felt her skin against him he knew who it was. Skin? "Scully? Where are the rest of your clothes?" He could feel her skin clad in nothing but her underwear.

"I took them off." She said. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist, pulling herself into him.

"Scully what's the matter?" He was concerned now, she felt desperate, as if she couldn't get him close enough.

"Mulder lets pretend we're back home, okay?"

Her question puzzled him. "Okay, but this is the part where I pester you for sex, you know that right?" He joked, hoping to lighten the moment.

With that, she let out a small sob, burying her face in his neck and pulling him over her. He moved to cover her cold body with his, stroking her hair, waiting for her to relax into him.

" Tell me what's wrong Scully, please."

"Just make me feel safe Mulder. Make me feel safe."


	5. Chapter 5

DAY FIVE

For the first time since they had arrived at the prison, Mulder didn't wake up until morning. As he pushed the blankets back the cold air swept in, chilling his bare chest. He hadn't felt cold during the night, quite the opposite. His skin had been warmed to boiling point by another body wrapped around him. Memories of the previous night suddenly flooded back, urging him to sit up and try to take stock of the situation. There was no Scully now. No clothes of hers strewn over the floor. No evidence that she had even been there. Maybe he had dreamed it all. No, those tears were real, along with the distress she had been in as she had climbed into his bed. She had buried her face into his neck and fallen asleep, but not before letting out a small cry. He could understand the feeling of home sickness, especially since there didn't seem to be an end in sight. No light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. He could understand her feeling sadness, but it wasn't something he could ever imagine her getting that distraught over. He'd go see her right away. Swanson had been funny about who went to the labs, but now there were only two of them, and Scully could make demands if she wanted to.

By the time he arrived at the labs it was almost one o'clock. On his way he had been stopped by Holstein, who'd asked him for his help resetting the traps at the gate. Apparently last night they'd had an attack, which had triggered several mines. They took it in turns to watch at night, always two men at a time. Limbs lay strewn across the grass, some twitching, honest to the fact that they still lived. Others lay still, maybe waiting for an unsuspecting passer-by to take pity on them. Mulder laughed inwardly at the thought of a piece of flesh being a threat. He laughed less when the hand next to him began to spasm. They still weren't able to rule out scratching as a possible contamination cause. All the hand had to do was have infected blood on it, and it would infect you with it.

Now he knocked on the door to the lab, pushing it open slowly. Scully stood over a body strapped to a gurney. As he neared it, his body betrayed him as he recoiled at the sight. Massive blisters covered its face, and the skin had turned a deep yellow colour. The body leapt up, restrained by the leather straps.

Mulder jumped backwards. "It's ok." Scully didn't look up, but continued in her matter-of-fact tone. "It can't see you. I've been standing here quietly for half an hour. This one can sense sound and movement, but it can't actually see you."

Mulder stared at the body, as it relaxed onto the gurney again. "Is it blind?" He asked.

"Yes. This is one of the last corpses to be infected. You can tell by the state of its body. The others are even further along then this. None of those can see either, and a lot of them can't hear. They can still sense, but as the disease progresses they seem more and more disorientated."

" How long will it take for them to get to this state? I mean, we don't know how long these things have been, dead. Don't we need a newly infected body?" He waited for an answer, but instead silence seeped in.

For a second she felt uncomfortable. "So what are you doing here Mulder? You want to slice and dice?" She gave a sad smile, propelling him to ask her what he had meant to before being ambushed by the body.

" Are you ok Scully?"

"Mulder, I'm fi…"

"No." he said, banging his hands down onto the gurney, causing the body to leap again. " I want to know what happened last night. Why you came to me. There's something wrong."

She forced a half laugh. "Nothings wrong. Since when did there have to be something wrong for me to sleep with you?"

"I KNOW there's something wrong when you climb into bed with me shaking and crying."

Her smile disappeared, replaced with a look of contempt that he felt he didn't deserve. Even so, he could see her reaction boiling up, her body language becoming defensive, aggressive even. "I'll show you Mulder. Let me show you."

He couldn't believe his eyes. Evan's body convulsed wildly under the leather straps, grunting and growling as his eyes met with Mulder's. " That's Tranter," She nodded to the other gurney, which lay under a heavy blanket. "They're both at different stages of the disease. I can only guess that they've been infected in different ways."

"But how did they find them again? They left over a day ago…" His voice trailed off as the look in his eyes told Scully exactly what had happened. They had never left. "Swanson?" He said, a little too loudly.

Scully shushed him, and then continued; " I can only guess that he infected one by blood, and one from saliva. It's what he discussed with me yesterday. Of course I assumed we were talking hypothetically." She pulled the blanket back over Evan's body. "My main concern now is, how long before it's one of us? This wasn't an accident Mulder, my guess is that this is some kind of test."

" If it is then I doubt the troops know. They seem to think this will be over soon and they'll be deployed somewhere else."

"If this is something that they want kept a secret, they wont want us to live to tell the tale." She turned to leave the room.

"We need to find a way out of here Scully, there has to be a way off this island for whoever is orchestrating this from the inside. Keep this to yourself, don't tell anyone, even Hagull. What does Swanson know about your research?"

"Nothing, he's never around. He spends all his time with Briggly, and when he's in the lab he wreaks of alcohol. It won't be hard to keep anything from him."

"Is he with Briggly right now?" He asked her. When she nodded, he knew exactly what his next move should be.

The listening room is what he'd called it. The listening room, which he wished, he'd made more use of over the last few days. Although he had listened in mid-conversation, it wasn't difficult to figure out who worked for whom. Swanson seemed desperately overwhelmed by the situation. It sounded as if his conscience had suddenly caught up with him, showering him with guilt. "You need to tell you're boss to send a helicopter. We need to get out of here NOW!" His voice went up an octave as he began to shout.

"I told you, tomorrow night. I can get in touch with Marshall, and he will send the helicopter. It will take three of us, you, me and Holstein when the time is right." He argued, much more calmly than his counterpart.

" There won't BE a right time!" Swanson continued. "There is no vaccine for this disease, if this is unleashed there won't be any stopping it! We will be infecting our own, and allowing them to infect others!"

"I've been told that treatment will turn soldiers into the ultimate killing machines. Fast, deadly and unstoppable. We need to continue."

"But we didn't count on the contagion. You use this in war and all you'll be left with is more enemies then you had before! This island needs to be destroyed, and we need to get out of here!"

"And we will." Briggly let out a quite laugh. "You, Holstein and I will board that helicopter tomorrow night, after I give the order for destruction. But, Swanson? Don't start to feel guilty now. You were the one that infected the first few people at the hospital. This all came from you."

Mulder went straight to lab, feeling desperation setting in. He and Scully were going to be on that helicopter, come hell or high water. So were the kids. And Hagull. Where was Hagull? He had heard him go to bed just after him last night, but he hadn't been in the lab with Scully. He hoped that he hadn't become one of those bodies under the blanket like Evans and Tranter.

He found Scully in the lab, and had begun to tell her what he had found, before she suddenly started talking, loudly, over the top of him. At first he couldn't understand, but as he followed her gaze into the corner of the room he saw the small black lens peering down at them. She had suggested, rather loudly, that they go for dinner. As they walked, she pulled him into a side room, which looked as if it had been some kind of office at some point. Uninhabited as it was now, she felt a little freer to talk, and to listen. She listened to everything Mulder had to say, nodding as the pieced of the puzzle fell into place.

"So Swanson thinks he's looking for a vaccine." Scully said quietly.

"But he hasn't found one Scully. But what you found may be the next best thing. We know how to beat these things. If they attack, the troops will automatically engage in combat, and they will lose."

"So what do you want to do Mulder?"

" We need to make sure we're on that helicopter. Tomorrow night I'm going to follow Briggly. As soon as I know he's made that call you need to get onto the roof, with Amy, Kevin and Hagull."

"What are you gonna do?" She asked, worried that he might offer to stay behind. It wasn't an option in her mind.

"I'm going to make sure Briggly and Swanson stay here. They won't do anything to this island if they know they're still here. At least, I don't think they will. We'll get the pilot to take us home, I know where they keep the weapons Scully, and Wenson was stupid enough to tell me outright."

The noise in the main hall soon settled as Briggly stood. "I want to talk about last night's balls up, because I don't want it happening again." He was shouting, but he didn't need to. Hs authority over the men was clear enough. "Who was on watch last night?"

" I was , sir." Holstein replied. " Along with Andrews." Scully had purposefully avoided eye contact with any of the men. As far as she was concerned it could have been anyone of them that had held her down last night. She didn't know why, but she did glance at Andrews, and in that instant she knew him to be her other attacker. A huge scab had formed on his hand where she had bitten him. It hadn't been a superficial nip either. She had bit hard and pulled at the skin. She shivered as the memory of his leaking flesh in her mouth flashed through her mind.

"What I want to know is," Briggly continued, "how fifteen of those things got as FAR as the gate post! It shouldn't have escaped your notice that there were body parts flying all over the lawn. How is it the final alarm had been triggered? I hear you had two of those things wrapped around your necks at one point last night!"

Andrews and Holstein exchanged glances. Holstein stood up. "I'm sorry sir, I had excused Andrews to take a break. I must have fallen asleep."

"Precisely why I tell you to stay in groups! How could you be so stupid? I want everyone to learn from this. You were both God damned lucky not to have been infected!" He sat then, although the room remained silent, until Wenson spoke.

"What happened to your hand?" He pointed at Andrews.

Andrews stuttered, looking at Scully, knowing she could incriminate him.

"You've been infected!" Screamed Wenson. "Look at his hand! Look at it! He was attacked last night and that's what they did to his hand!" It took about five seconds for the other troops to jump across the table. It astonished Mulder how the brotherly camaraderie has cooled over the last few days. They dragged Wenson to the floor, holding him down on his back. Briggly strode over, holding a large kitchen knife, right below his chin. Scully watched. Her brain told her not to worry, that he was getting what he deserved. But her heart told her that she couldn't watch them pull him to pieces believing he was infected when he was not. She watched Andrews screaming his head off, trying to yank his arms free. "I was bitten! I was bitten!"

"We know!" One of the other troops yelled, holding his ankles on the floor. "You bastard you'd have infected us all!" As Briggly began to cut into his throat, Scully couldn't keep her silence

"I BIT HIM!" She yelled. "I bit him." She repeated, much more quietly this time. The whole room turned to face her. Including the children. Including Mulder. She read the utter confusion on his face, hoping he couldn't connect the dots. But Of course he could, this was Mulder. She turned and fled the hall, running upstairs, into the cell. The cell where it had all happened. She didn't want to be here either; she wanted to be in her lab, where she had found it so easy to forget it all this morning whilst talking to Mulder.

She got up to leave, only to be confronted by Mulder, standing in her way. He didn't shout, although he looked like he wanted to. He simply held both her arms in his hands, and guided her back down onto the bed. "I bit him, Mulder." She said again, realising she had said the same sentence three times consecutively now.

"I know," he breathed out, "but why?" He said it as if flinching away from what the answer might be. "Does this have something to do with last night?"

"It's ok Mulder, nothing happened in the end." He knew she was desperate to allay his fears, reacting to the agitation in his voice. In the end? He thought. He didn't like that. There had to be a beginning and a middle for there to be an end. He listened to her continue. "I got back here last night, and they were waiting for me."

"THEY?" Now he did raise his voice, getting up and rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

"Holstein and Andrews. Andrews was the one holding me down, and I bit him." She looked away now, flashes of shame across her face. Pain ripped though him.

"Where was I?" was all he could muster. Trust him to turn a situation like this into being all about him, but he couldn't help it. He loved this woman and the thought of anyone hurting her made him burn inside. The anger he felt transcended into the physical, as he punched the glass window, shattering it into pieces and cutting his knuckles open. He turned around, leaving the cell. She frantically chased after him, putting both hands on his arm and throwing all of her tiny weight backward, trying to stop him.

"Please Mulder," he hated the pleading in her voice. It was enough to stop him for now. "Please Mulder don't do this. This is why I didn't tell you last night! If you go down there Mulder, they'll kill you! They can't kill you Mulder because I NEED you!"

He lowered his voice again, "You NEEDED me last night Scully. You needed me and where was I?"

" Mulder please!" Now she was begging. "I was so scared. It was so dark and they came out of nowhere. And when I felt him ON me Mulder..I…." She was getting close to tears now. She let go of him, looking down at the floor, as if that was the secret key to regaining her composure. "Just come back in here with me, please. Just stay with me. Once we're off this island we can settle the score. We're so outnumbered here Mulder. I know they all jumped Andrews down there, but that's only because their own lives were endangered. If you go down there and take out one of there own, they'll kill you. They can't kill you Mulder because I need you!" With relief, she saw his expression soften a little. She seized the opportunity and pulled him back down the corridor, into the cell and onto the bed.

Mulder lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. Scully had more or less drifted off straight away, curled up beside him, his arms wrapped around her. He looked at her face, now totally at ease and oblivious to the despair they faced. He imagined her walking in, exhausted from her work in the lab, only to be jumped on by the two soldiers. She hadn't gone into detail, which was fine with him. He shouldn't want to know. But part of him did want to know. Not through some sick pleasure, but because he needed to know what HADN'T happened, to put his mind at rest. Tomorrow he would arm them with whatever he could get his hands on. He had wanted to leave it as late as possible, so that by the time Briggly had worked out that they had taken the guns it would be too late. He didn't feel prepared enough yet either. He hadn't gone through their escape route, hadn't spoken to Hagull or told the children where to be. He knew more or less what he wanted to do, but a rough plan would be no use tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

Day Six

Again, he awakened alone. A mild worry started to throb as he quickly put his shoes on and made his way down to the lab. He knew Scully could usually take care of herself, but last night had frightened him. What had frightened him was how frightened SHE had been. It wasn't often he had Scully actually TELLING him that she felt threatened. Any other time when he had panicked over her, she would always try to down play the situation, making him feel silly for being so worried. But this time, there was no downplaying. No telling him he was silly. Because this time she felt he had been right to worry.

After checking in with Scully, and finding her with Dr Swanson, he travelled the prison looking for Hagull. Apparently he had been carrying out some of the more basic testing in another lab not far from the cell corridors. Mulder knocked and entered, to find him sitting at a desk, workbook open and pen in hand. As Mulder entered, Hagull sat a little straighter. "Long time no see." Mulder flashed him a friendly smile.

"What can I do for you?" Hagull asked.

"I've come to tell you that we will be leaving tomorrow, but no one else can know. If anyone else finds out then it's likely we'll be left here to die."

Hagull's eyes widened. "What do you mean, left to die?"

"I only know that tomorrow a chopper will land to collect survivors. After that, they're going to destroy the island."

"If they're collecting survivors, then we should be okay?" It was more of a question then a statement.

"Briggly is gonna fix it so there aren't any survivors. I don't know much more then that. But I do need you to help us. When everyone else is at dinner tomorrow, I want you to carry something for me, up to the roof, and leave it there, out of sight."

Mulder spent most of the rest of the day in the listening room. Listening in on Briggly. Sometimes he talked with Swanson, sometimes on his own and sometimes with Holstein. Now he knew when the helicopter would come. It would be in the middle of the night, when no one else expected it. After dinner he would go to the secret place that Wenson had told him about – where the spare guns were being stored. This plan had to work. Their lives depended on it.

As planned Hagull was absent from dinner. Halfway through, Mulder feigned sickness, reassuring Dr Swanson it was nothing – but he needed to lie down. Mulder would meet her at the lab after dinner, and give her a weapon. Hagull was also supposed to be there although he hadn't shown up. When Mulder finally did show up, it was with a look of sheer anguish. "The guns Scully." he heaved, "They're all gone. They've taken them all."

At eleven o'clock Mulder lay in his bunk. They had had to rethink the entire operation now that the guns had become unavailable. He still couldn't decide whether Wenson had double-crossed him, not that it mattered now. His original plan had been to keep the troops back as their party boarded the helicopter, but now they needed something better. It was Scully who had come up with the plan to detain Swanson. Upstairs, where Tranter and Evans lay, there had been a huge cold storage unit, into which she intended to lock him. Mulder had been surprised that she'd suggested this, but she assured him it wouldn't cause any long term side affects, as long as he was let out within twenty four hours. Mulder would make his way into the listening room, wait for Briggly to make the call and barricade them in somehow. Okay so it wasn't an airtight plan, but he had to rely on the other soldiers' ignorance. He lay now, running through every bit of the plan, step-by-step, inch-by-inch, trying to find potential loopholes or developments. He listened as the rest of the troops entered the corridor. Usually they came up in dribs and drabs, having done most of their talking. Tonight they were early. He listened as they crowded into the cell next to his, about five different voices could be heard. He listened in, hearing Wenson and Andrews. Andrews had been missing at dinner, since the others had wanted him dead for the bite on his hand. He talked loudly, in a boastful manner, "Yeah she fucking bit me, the bitch. More fun when they struggle though, makes it better in the end. Holstein was the worst back home, they'd never tell though. Filthy sluts anyway, they don't want people knowing how filthy they are. That one thinks she something special but I tell ya, get her clothes off her and she's just like all the rest, just a whore. He's bringing her back now. This way even you'll score Wenson. Even a little…" He didn't manage to finish the sentence. Mulder's fist connected full force. He shoved him to the floor, pounding him relentlessly, even as the other four men began hauling him off. Sharp blows reigned over the whole of his body and soon his vision swam and eventually faded to black.

The fresh air hit him like an ice block. Vague memories of Briggly's voice floated through his head. He now lay on his back, feeling the crisp leaves under his head. Wenson stood over him, shotgun aimed straight between his eyes. Andrews stood next to him. As Mulder tried to move, Andrews kicked him in the guts. "Do it." He turned to Wenson. "Prove you're not a total faggot. You fucking owe me after what you said the other night. You nearly had me killed."

Wenson hesitated. "DO IT" Andrews screamed so loud, the rifle went off in his hand, Wenson shooting himself straight in the foot. Before Andrews had time to reload, Mulder had scrambled away into the woods. It had all gone to hell.

When Scully had approached him he had been sat over Evan's body, a bottle of scotch in his hand, weeping. "They made me do it." he wailed. "They made me infect those people in the hospital." Scully watched Evan's body, as it strained against the straps at the sound of their voices. His eyes were clouded but his hearing had remained intact.

"How," Scully approached him with caution, "how did you infect them?"

Swanson took a deep breath. "After the Hurricane people were injured. They came to the hospital for treatment – where we injected them"

"Injected them with what?" Scully's voice became louder as she got more and more angry.

"You don't understand! We only injected a small sample of people. That was part of the test. To see how fast it would spread."

"How does it spread?" Her voice more accusing then questioning.

"Numerous ways. Basically anything involving saliva or blood. One scratch, one bite, the tiniest of physical contact could set it off."

"What exactly is it that they were infected with."

One word escaped his lips. "Rage." She thought about the events Mulder had said he had witnessed out on the streets. Groups of people attacking others and ripping them to pieces, seemingly all for the sake of it. She continued with her questions.

"Why here? Why now?"

"Why not?" He replied. "A tiny island devastated by natural disaster. Easy to destroy without affecting the surrounding isles."

"Who's orchestrating this Swanson? Whose pulling the strings." A loud shot rang in her ears, as Swanson slumped over the body, causing it to writhe and twitch. She spun, to see Holstein holding a rifle in his hand.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join?" His smile made her want to vomit. She instinctively backed up so that she was behind the two gurneys, putting as much space between them as possible.

"What are you doing here?" She tried to normalize her voice, not wanting to give him the fear she knew he was after.

"I came looking for you. Thought we could finish what we started the other night."

He was much quicker then her and stronger too. In seconds he had her pinned between him and the gurney. She was sure he hadn't noticed that Evans was still alive. Indeed she wouldn't have noticed either, save for the small twitches that were hardly noticeable now. She grabbed hold of the straps, a risky move if ever the body were to be startled and last out.

"Don't do this. Mulder's meeting me here in five minutes."

"Mulder," he slurred, leaning into her, "isn't with us anymore. He's joined the masses out there. Don't expect him to come and rescue you. In fact you wouldn't want him anywhere near you now."

No, she thought. Not Mulder. He was just saying this to hurt her. She couldn't believe him. She wouldn't. Her fingers made quick work of the gurney straps, trying to keep her touch as light as possible. Just the top strap, that's all she needed.

"Mulder's dead?" She asked, bringing the hand that wasn't pinned down, up to rest on Holstein's chest.

"As a dodo." Holstein spat out.

"So he won't find out?" She made her voice as soft as possible. She wasn't used to playing the victim, but it was a role that was imperative now. She could see the confusion spread across his face, as she brought her lips to his, just for a second. She watched his face carefully. Too much too soon and he'd guess. She needed to play to his ego. "I hate Andrews. That's why I fought the other night. I hate him. That's why I bit him." She had been lucky that she'd happened upon such an egotistical, sexist assailant. He was taking it all in. She hated herself for this, but she realised it was the only way to get out of this alive. Soon the helicopter would arrive, and she had no doubt that he would kill her after he was done with her. She took hold of his belt, undoing it without breaking off eye contact with him. As he closed his eyes in anticipation, she turned them, pushing him back against the gurney. She began to undo the buttons on his trousers, pushing the zip down slowly, all the time watching his face as his features softened a little, his eyes glazed over. This was her chance. She took one step back, and another forward, hurling her body against his. For a moment, a grin flashed over his face, followed by sheer horror as she screamed loudly. Not a girly scream, but a gut wrenching scream that burst through from the pit of her stomach. Evan's body convulsed wildly as Holstein's body hit his hard. The body may have been blind, but he'd lost none of his strength. She had intruded earlier on Swanson about to give him another muscle relaxant. Without the relaxant these things were strong enough to tear someone limb from limb. She now witnessed this first hand, as Evans' hands grabbed at flesh, ripping it off so that the bare bone was exposed. Holstein howled as Evans' grip tightened. She didn't want to see more. She fled from the room, shutting the door behind her, grabbing a chair from the corridor and slamming it under the handle. It wouldn't hold him for long but it would give her a head start at least. To where, she wasn't quite sure.

They had taken him to the side of the prison. Out of the front gates and round the back. Out of sight out of mind. At least that's what he hoped now, as he looked at the huge stonewall. It was already eleven forty-five. In fifteen minutes the chopper was going to fly away, leaving the island in to destruction. He scanned his surroundings, noticing several large trees that bowed over toward the lowest set of windows. They were too high off the ground for him to reach, but the trees made for an interesting opportunity. But first he needed a distraction.

Scully made her way downstairs, heading for the listening room. She couldn't believe that Mulder was dead and believed she might hear something if she listened to Briggly. In truth she couldn't think what else to do. As she made her way across the hall, she ran into a handful of troops, shoving past her. She caught hold of Wenson. "What's going on?" She asked.

" Main alarm's been triggered, can't find Holstein or Andrews. Briggly wants us all out there." With that he was gone. They were all gone, leaving her standing alone. She continued up to the listening room, sitting against the vent. Briggly's voice could be heard loud and clear, talking to someone on a telephone. The helicopter would arrive in ten minutes. Ten minutes and she couldn't find Mulder. She wouldn't leave without him. She opened the door with force and determination, only to run straight into Andrews.

His plan had begun to work. The soldiers were out on the path in front of the house, resetting the triggered alarm. The next bit was more difficult. He sat high above, staring out of the window. He had managed to pull himself in, after climbing from one tree to another. The hours he had spent doing this as a child had not been a waste. From this distance he could see the bodies moving in the woods. Aimlessly groping at each other as the wandered blind, through the woods. He knew he needed a weapon of some kind. He had to settle on a ceramic sculpture that lay on the windowsill and prayed that this wouldn't be his only lifeline.

Andrews grip on her arm stung like a vice as he shoved her through the door to Briggly's office. Briggly sat in his chair, seemingly unshaken by their sudden arrival. "What have you done with Mulder?" The desperation in her voice betrayed her body language, as she stood, stoic and rigid.

"He's out there," Briggly nodded sideways. "But he won't be Mulder anymore."

"I know what you're planning. You and Holstein." She turned to look at Andrews. "He's going to leave you here you know. He's going to leave you and the rest of the men to die." Andrews let go of her.

"Is this true?" he asked. Briggly remained quiet. "IS IT TRUE?" He yelled now.

"Of course it's not true!" But Briggly had been far less convincing than Scully. Andrews raised his shotgun.

"Don't do anything stupid," Briggly said, concern flashing across his face. "Ok, look, here's the deal. Holstein is meant to be on that chopper with me. Find him and finish him. His place is yours."

Andrews considered him for a moment, knowing it may be the only chance he had to escape. "He's upstairs in Swanson's room." Scully offered, without a bit of remorse.

He lay low, keeping in the shadows. The rest of the troops were still outside. Suddenly a screeching sound came from down the hall. Two people were flaying to the floor, thrashing and fighting. It couldn't be, could it? Holstein and Andrews were grappling, one of them shrieking over and over again. Scully's voice. He could hear here. Not screaming. Yelling. He was desperate to cry out to her. He needed to know where she was. He crawled to the hall that lead to Briggly's office, and listened at the door. He could hear bits and pieces of the conversation., "You're infecting innocent people! Whose doing this? Who asked you to do all this?" Silence. The silence was soon interrupted by a thud. Another thud. Smashing and breaking. Holding his breath, Mulder kicked down the door, bursting in on Briggly's shotgun aimed right at Scully's head. In half a second he was on him. Pounding his face with his fists. He knew the shotgun blast would attract the others soon. He sat up, exposing Briggly's face as a bloody mess. He shot a look at Scully, and felt horrified that she was frightened. Frightened that he had become one of THEM. Quickly, he got off Briggly. "It's just me Scully, it's just me." The look she gave him was that of pure relief. He jumped to his feet, taking her arm in his hand. "The others will be here soon. We have to go."

As they climbed the narrow stairwell, Mulder prayed that Hagull hadn't sealed the hatch with the heavy block they had put on the roof in preparation. The chopper could still be heard above, vibrating through the ceiling. The hatch opened easily, the smell of fresh air hitting their lungs as they poked their heads through. The chopper sat on the rooftop, with Hagull and the children already inside. "I was about to give up on you!" Hagull shouted over the din. Mulder and Scully climbed through the hole onto the roof, running to join them. As they took off, the hatch was thrown back open, as Briggly climbed out, howling in pain. The pilot turned to Mulder, "Should we go back?"

They watched as he suddenly disappeared back down the stairwell, probably dragged by Andrews, Holstein or even Evans.

"No." Mulder stated. "He's infected."


	7. epilogue

Epilogue

"Nothing Scully." Mulder folded the newspaper in half and dropped it onto the kitchen table. "How can they do this? How can they just sweep this under the carpet?"

He sat back in disgust, turning his head to gauge Scully's reaction as she stood looking out of the window.

"You act surprised Mulder. They cover up the truth with a more plausible lie."

She continued to water each plant in turn, hoping that the rare winter sunlight would aid their growth.

"What, the fact that such a tiny island was concealing enough explosives to wipe out all civilisation? It stinks Scully. Those innocent people."

"They told a lie that was more realistic than the truth. How many times have we seen this before? Look…"She took a seat opposite him now. "I feel exactly the same as you. We gave our statements, Hagull too I'm assuming?"

"Hagull's a yes man. They'll offer him a position somewhere to shut him up. I'm sure of that." He answered.

He sighed, infuriated with the injustice of it all. She was right of course, why should he be surprised? He'd been away from this for so long though. Working for the VCS and profiling meant minimal contact with the company they had once kept. He'd forgotten what this feeling was like and it reminded him of the life he'd left behind. It had been a life where a faction got to do what they wanted, with nil consequence. The shrill of the phone cut the silence. He watched as Scully disappeared, reminding himself selfishly of how much worse the situation could have ended for them…and those kids. Last he'd heard, some aunt in Maryland had claimed them. He hoped they'd make it . . .

"What's that Kevin?" Sheila Laskin leaned over the young boys shoulder, the disturbing sound coming from his mobile phone rousing her concerns. She'd never let her own kids watch any gratuitous and she owed it to her sister to do the same good job with Kevin and Amy. As she squinted at the movie, she was abhorred at its violence. "Kevin honey, where did you get this?" She gasped as she recognised Amy's image, clambering onto some sort of jeep, behind her a dozen bloody faces. She turned her head, ushering her husband to her side.

" Alan, what do we with this?" She clutched at Kevin's shoulders, as if he'd disappear into the movie if she didn't.

Kevin spoke now. "We need to give it to someone…" he said sadly. "We need to give it to Fox Mulder…"

End


End file.
